Chishuihe Bridge Chajiaotan

Chishuihe Bridge Chajiaotan is the last link along the 84 kilometer Xugu expressway that connects the city of Xuyong on the G76 with the city of Gulin and eventually the Chishui River gorge where it will connect with the Renchi expressway in Guizhou. Construction was completed in 2016 on all but the very eastern end of the expressway. Work is expected to start in 2017 on the second phase of the expressway including the Chishuihe Chajiaotan Bridge in addition to 12 kilometers of expressway in Guizhou Province. The span configuration will be 325+1200+205 meters with a total length of 2,003 meters and a width of 27 meters. Some sources have a height of 323 meters but it is not clear if this is to the river surface or the bottom of the river.

The central 1,200 meter span of Chishuihe Chajiaotan Bridge ranks among the longest span high level bridges in the world exceeded only by the Dahe and Jinshajiang Jin'an Bridges which are also expected to open in 2021. Like several of China's largest and highest suspension bridges, Chajiaotan will have a mountain tunnel located directly below a deep cable anchorage tunnel. The east end will include a more conventional anchorage along with a large number of approach spans. The bridge will be located at kilometer 67.

Other high bridges on the Sichuan section of the Xugu expressway include Shilianghe, Luosizhai, Tiantanghe, Modaoxi and two crossings of the Gulin River.

A view looking north just beyond the site of the crossing. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Tower foundation work.

Tunnel anchor work.

The steep slope of the west tower location. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

The small town of Xijiuzhen is located in the shadow of the bridge. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com

A map showing the two final routes that were studied before they decided on the red route.

An alternate route was studied that would have carried the Xugu expressway just beyond this tight gap. This location might have been more dramatic with vertical cliffs on both sides of the river. Image by Eric Sakowski / HighestBridges.com